"Doing more exercise with less intensity,"
Arthur Jones believes, "has all but
destroyed the actual great value
of weight training. Something
must be done . . . and quickly."
The New Bodybuilding for
Old-School Results supplies
MUCH of that "something."

This is one of 93 photos of Andy McCutcheon that are used in The New High-Intensity Training to illustrate the recommended exercises.

MB Medaera, M.D., is a 45-year-old neurosurgeon and he's married to a critical care surgeon. Besides dynamic medical careers, they are parents of four boys: ages 13, 10, 9, and 6. I met MB six years ago, when we both lived in the same neighborhood and our sons played together.

MB was a multiple-sport athlete in high school and college and continues to play ice hockey competitively in a league here in Orlando, Florida. He has strength trained on and off for more than 25 years and — between his surgeries, office, and family responsibilities — we've often talked about what's going on in the sports/fitness world. Because of his neurological experiences and his parenting skills, he seems to have a different take on many contributing factors involved in winning and losing.

My maverick practices in strength and conditioning, combined with MB's unique perspectives, make our ongoing discussions meaningful to both of us.

It was no wonder when MB came by my house on March 23, 2008, with his oldest son, Chris, to retrieve his youngest son, who had been playing all afternoon with my boy, that I challenged MB and Chris to try my latest arm workout.

They accepted the challenge and I trained them both, first MB and then Chris — and guess what? Not only did they endure, they both commented afterward that their arms had . . . never before felt so pumped.

I was pleased the next day when I received an e-mail from MB stating that he and Chris wanted to sign-up for my Intensive-Coaching plan. Seems they both had a goal: Chris, to get into his best-possible shape for football in August; and MB, to achieve his personal-best physique by the end of summer.

What a great opportunity, I thought, to pursue a father-son commitment — not only for our benefit, but also for the readers of my Web site.

Below is a brief look at the BEFORE measurements, photos, and goals of MB and Chris Medaera.

MB ON APRIL 8, 2008

One of Dr. MB Medaera's goals is to lose 4 inches off his waist.

When this photo was taken, MB Medaera, 45, was 6' tall and weighed 196 pounds. As you can see, MB is fairly well developed with 15-inch upper arms and 25-inch thighs. His problem area — like so many men his age — was his waistline. At the navel level, where his love handles peak, the tape measure recorded a circumference of 38-1/2 inches.

MB's percent body fat was 22.4 — so both of us felt he could lose 15 pounds of fat, which was our initial objective.

He immediately began an eating plan similar to that presented in my book, "A Flat Stomach ASAP." For the first two weeks, 1500 calories a day was his motto, along with strength training two days per week.

CHRIS ON APRIL 8, 2008

Chris Medaera wants to add solid muscle to his 13-year-old body.

MB Medaera's 13-year-old son, Chris, needs to gain significant muscular weight so he can play better football this coming season. When his BEFORE shot was taken, he was 5'8" tall and weighed 143.5 pounds. He was very lean at 5.1 percent body fat.

What Chris requires are bigger, stronger muscles throughout his body. I instructed him to eat approximately 3,000 calories a day — and we decided to strength train twice a week. Plus, it was a must that Chris gets 10 hours of muscle-building sleep each night.

Chris's goal is to add 10 pounds of muscle to his maturing body — on or before August 1, 2008.

MB AND CHRIS ON APRIL 20, 2008

Twelve days and four workouts after their BEFORE pictures, MB asked my son, Tyler, and me to join him and his family for some tubing, wake surfing, and waterskiing on their boat at Lake Louise. Interestingly, I had just taken some follow-up measurements of MB and Chris on April 19th.

MB had already dropped 7 pounds, from 196 to 189, and his body-fat measurements (from 22.4% to 19.7%) revealed that his weight loss was entirely fat.

Chris, on the other hand, increased his body weight from 143.5 to 147 — for a muscular gain of 3.5 pounds.

Check out the April 20th photos that I took of MB and Chris wake surfing behind the Medaera boat. Muscular definition is clearly emerging in their arms and shoulders. And note the thighs on MB.

I expect MB and Chris to make steady progress toward their goals — and part of my job is to keep them focused.

Watch for ongoing reports.

Chris surfs a wake with some newly added muscle on his upper body.

MB, with his athletic skills, should be a contestant on Surfing with the Stars.

I love these mini-studies of typical people on HIT. What could be more educational than that? One of the coolest parts is that these get announced even before the results come in, so we get to watch it unfold "live". I'm sure Dr. D has to always be hoping that he doesn't end up with a "dud" that won't eat or exercise properly. :)

Thanks again for sharing these stories, and I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Captain Puny wrote:
I love these mini-studies of typical people on HIT. What could be more educational than that? One of the coolest parts is that these get announced even before the results come in, so we get to watch it unfold "live".

I agree 100%. It will be great to follow along with these and other cases in Dr. Darden's coaching program. I am very glad to see that this area of the website has been expanded to include more case studies. We will all get see how effective the Dr's programs can be for fat loss and muscle building.

MB Medaera just completed six weeks of my Intensive Coaching. Today, after a round of basic measurements, he has lost 12.11 pounds of fat and gained 3 pounds of muscle. His percentage of body fat has gone from 22.4 to 17.0 and he's reduced the size of his waist by 2-1/2 inches.

He still needs to lose more fat and we're continuing with what we've been doing for another six weeks.

MB's body weight has dropped from 196 pounds to 181, for a loss of 15 pounds. His waistline has shrunk from 38-1/2 inches to 35, for a decrease of 3-1/2 inches. His strength has improved dramatically: 33% on the leg press, 48% on the pullover, and 68% on the bench press.

The idea now is to up his daily calories, from 1500 to 2000 or more, and add creatine monohydrate to his eating plan. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next six weeks.

Chris, MB's 13-year-old son, has surprised even me with his results. His body weight has increased from 143-1/2 pounds to 152-1/2, for a gain of 9 pounds. He's added 3/4 inch on his neck, 3/4 inch in each upper arm, and 1 inch on each thigh.

As a result of his progress, we'll be trying to get Chris's body weight to the 160-pound mark, before he starts football practice in early August.

Chris's muscularity is evident in this double-biceps shot from the back. Chris added 1/2 inch to each forearm, 3/4 inch to each upper arm,
1-1/2 inches to his chest/back, 1 inch to each thigh, and 1/2 inch to each calf.

From April 8 through August 20, 2008, I trained MB an average of twice a week. MB lost 20.29 pounds of fat and built 8.29 pounds of muscle. Eight pounds of skeletal muscle is significant and such gains were demonstrated in his leg press and bench press resistance and repetitions.

During the first week of training, for example, he leg-pressed 320 pounds on a Nautilus Nitro machine for 13 repetitions and bench-pressed 125 pounds on a Nautilus Nitro machine for 12 reps. His August 20th workout showed that he leg-pressed 440/9 and bench-pressed 200/10.

MB's 13-year-old son, Chris, progressed from a body weight of 143-1/2 to 157, for a gain of 13-1/2 pounds. He increased his strength in the leg press and the bench press, each by 80 percent. As a result, he added more than 1 inch of girth on each of his upper arms and each of his thighs.

Chris has started football practice and his coaches are amazed at what he's achieved over four months.

MB continues to train with me and his goals are to chip away at losing another 5 pounds of fat and to get bigger and stronger by adding 5-1/2 pounds of muscle between now and the end of December.

I want to first congratulate you on taking the time to get involved with your son in physical fitness.

Is not an easy task but it sure is rewarding.

I just want to add my two cents on how HIT works.

My boys began at age 13 1/2 now a year later I get as much compliments as I do critiques. ITs funny because the principal of the school actually called me in to ask me if I knew what my twins were doing since they were "overdeveloped".

Besides the nice physique they both have developed self esteem, both are now honor rolls so I cant compliant.

Chris has trained on and off now for two years. He has completed 36 high-intensity training sessions with me. His results are straight-forward and impressive. At only 15 years of age, he's gained 28 pounds of muscle . . . and he now weighs a solid 174 pounds.

He's added 2-1/8 inches on each upper arm, 3 inches on his chest, and 2-3/8 inches on each thigh. You'll want to look below and compare his BEFORE picture to the attached AFTER shot.

Interestingly, Chris's best exercise is the leg curl. During his last workout on my Nautilus Nitro Leg Curl, he performed 10 reps with 155 pounds. None of my other trainees can even do 1 repetition with this resistance.

Chris has trained on and off now for two years. He has completed 36 high-intensity training sessions with me. His results are straight-forward and impressive. At only 15 years of age, he's gained 28 pounds of muscle . . . and he now weighs a solid 174 pounds.

He's added 2-1/8 inches on each upper arm, 3 inches on his chest, and 2-3/8 inches on each thigh. You'll want to look below and compare his BEFORE picture to the attached AFTER shot.

Interestingly, Chris's best exercise is the leg curl. During his last workout on my Nautilus Nitro Leg Curl, he performed 10 reps with 155 pounds. None of my other trainees can even do 1 repetition with this resistance.

Chris has trained on and off now for two years. He has completed 36 high-intensity training sessions with me. His results are straight-forward and impressive. At only 15 years of age, he's gained 28 pounds of muscle . . . and he now weighs a solid 174 pounds.

He's added 2-1/8 inches on each upper arm, 3 inches on his chest, and 2-3/8 inches on each thigh. You'll want to look below and compare his BEFORE picture to the attached AFTER shot.

Interestingly, Chris's best exercise is the leg curl. During his last workout on my Nautilus Nitro Leg Curl, he performed 10 reps with 155 pounds. None of my other trainees can even do 1 repetition with this resistance.